As I start to get back into turning, I find that I have more basic questions
than I can find answers for. Bought a few books but frankly, they just
describe the parts of the lathe and what the basic tools do which I already
knew.

What would be a good beginners book that gets more into technique and less
on the history of the lathe?

What are good woods for a beginner to play with?

I have some oak cutoffs which went well. Some redwood which was soft but ok.
Tried some Doug fir and even during roughing, it split along the grain
lines. Also have maple, walnut & mahogany. Is there a place where I can get
an idea which types of wood turn best and recommended speeds?

Other questions - is there a guideline as to how fast you can spin a certain
size piece? What about if it's faceplate vs. spindle?

Lot's of basic questions. Been watching a lot of YouTube vids and they are
helpful.

Don't mind reading but don't have time to get to 'meetings' so any good book
recommendations will be helpful.

Sorry for the total newb questions but have to start somewhere.

Mainly plan on making cups and boxes and various knobs - might try a bowl at
some point - not much interested in pens.

Thanx,

Vic



--
There are 10 kinds of people - those who understand binary and those who
don't

Vic Baron wrote:
As I start to get back into turning, I find that I have more basic
questions than I can find answers for. Bought a few books but
frankly, they just describe the parts of the lathe and what the basic
tools do which I already knew.

What would be a good beginners book that gets more into technique and
less on the history of the lathe?

No idea
____________

What are good woods for a beginner to play with?

Most anything that is straight grained and not so soft that it doesn't cut
well. Walnut, hickory, maple, mahogany, poplar, etc.
____________

I have some oak cutoffs which went well. Some redwood which was soft
but ok. Tried some Doug fir and even during roughing, it split along
the grain lines.

How big was the piece? Gouge or skew and how big? Spindle or face plate?
I can't think of any reason fir should split.
________________

Other questions - is there a guideline as to how fast you can spin a
certain size piece? What about if it's faceplate vs. spindle?

The bigger the piece, the slower you rotate it. At least I do. Once I get
it round, I up the speed. If it shakes I slow it down.
________________

Mainly plan on making cups and boxes and various knobs - might try a
bowl at some point - not much interested in pens.

Hard to do a box on a lathe



--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Vic, the absolute best advice I can give is to go to

http://www.woodturner.org/

Find a group near you and attend on a regular basis.

As for the wood to turn, whatever is laying around. If it splits, you
learn. If it does not split you learn.

Generally, the larger the piece, the slower you turn - it has to do with the
speed of the edge of the piece and the kenetic energy that it can/does build
up, which you do not want to release all of a sudden (the piece come flying
off the lathe) Basically, slow until you get it roughed to the point where
the lathe is not jumping across the floor and then you can gradually
increase speed - IF you want to.

Get a wolverine type sharpening jig. A necessity.

Deb



Vic Baron wrote:

As I start to get back into turning, I find that I have more basic
questions than I can find answers for. Bought a few books but frankly,
they just describe the parts of the lathe and what the basic tools do
which I already knew.

What would be a good beginners book that gets more into technique and less
on the history of the lathe?

What are good woods for a beginner to play with?

I have some oak cutoffs which went well. Some redwood which was soft but
ok. Tried some Doug fir and even during roughing, it split along the grain
lines. Also have maple, walnut & mahogany. Is there a place where I can
get an idea which types of wood turn best and recommended speeds?

Other questions - is there a guideline as to how fast you can spin a
certain size piece? What about if it's faceplate vs. spindle?

Lot's of basic questions. Been watching a lot of YouTube vids and they are
helpful.

Don't mind reading but don't have time to get to 'meetings' so any good
book recommendations will be helpful.

Sorry for the total newb questions but have to start somewhere.

Mainly plan on making cups and boxes and various knobs - might try a bowl
at some point - not much interested in pens.

Thanx,

Vic

Just get started. Use any kind of wood that you have and keep notes (create
your own book). Sometimes learing by trial and error is the best approach.
What works for on person does not work for another. A freind of mine can
not use the lathe the same way I do I am 5'9" tall and he is 6'10" tall and
another one (the best turner of the bunch) only has one arm. You can also
check Taunton Press "Fine Woodworking" for videos. I have seen them and
ther are good, but get them from different turners.

"Vic Baron" wrote in message
...
As I start to get back into turning, I find that I have more basic
questions than I can find answers for. Bought a few books but frankly,
they just describe the parts of the lathe and what the basic tools do
which I already knew.

What would be a good beginners book that gets more into technique and less
on the history of the lathe?

What are good woods for a beginner to play with?

I have some oak cutoffs which went well. Some redwood which was soft but
ok. Tried some Doug fir and even during roughing, it split along the grain
lines. Also have maple, walnut & mahogany. Is there a place where I can
get an idea which types of wood turn best and recommended speeds?

Other questions - is there a guideline as to how fast you can spin a
certain size piece? What about if it's faceplate vs. spindle?

Lot's of basic questions. Been watching a lot of YouTube vids and they are
helpful.

Don't mind reading but don't have time to get to 'meetings' so any good
book recommendations will be helpful.

Sorry for the total newb questions but have to start somewhere.

Mainly plan on making cups and boxes and various knobs - might try a bowl
at some point - not much interested in pens.

Thanx,

Vic



--
There are 10 kinds of people - those who understand binary and those who
don't

"Vic Baron" wrote in message
...
As I start to get back into turning, I find that I have more basic questions
than I can find answers for. Bought a few books but frankly, they just
describe the parts of the lathe and what the basic tools do which I already
knew.

What would be a good beginners book that gets more into technique and less
on the history of the lathe?

What are good woods for a beginner to play with?

I have some oak cutoffs which went well. Some redwood which was soft but ok.
Tried some Doug fir and even during roughing, it split along the grain
lines. Also have maple, walnut & mahogany. Is there a place where I can get
an idea which types of wood turn best and recommended speeds?

Other questions - is there a guideline as to how fast you can spin a certain
size piece? What about if it's faceplate vs. spindle?

Lot's of basic questions. Been watching a lot of YouTube vids and they are
helpful.

Don't mind reading but don't have time to get to 'meetings' so any good book
recommendations will be helpful.

Sorry for the total newb questions but have to start somewhere.

Mainly plan on making cups and boxes and various knobs - might try a bowl at
some point - not much interested in pens.

Thanx,

Vic

I'm a beginning turner too and I found this book to be quite helpful.
Turning wood with Richard Raffan

Art

I've pretty much come to that conclusion. Been reading and browsing and it
seems that everyone has their pet way of doing things. Burnish or no
burnish - scary sharp or grinder sharp - varying grind angles for the same
tools. Since I have a lot of red oak cutoffs from varying woodworking
projects, I'll just keep practicing.

I think I have enough good woodworking sense not to do anything really
stupid or dangerous. I've always learned best by trial and error and even
here in southern California I'll be needing some firewood soon.

Thanx!


wrote in message
om...
Just get started. Use any kind of wood that you have and keep notes
(create your own book). Sometimes learing by trial and error is the best
approach. What works for on person does not work for another. A freind of
mine can not use the lathe the same way I do I am 5'9" tall and he is
6'10" tall and another one (the best turner of the bunch) only has one
arm. You can also check Taunton Press "Fine Woodworking" for videos. I
have seen them and ther are good, but get them from different turners.

"Vic Baron" wrote in message
...
As I start to get back into turning, I find that I have more basic
questions than I can find answers for. Bought a few books but frankly,
they just describe the parts of the lathe and what the basic tools do
which I already knew.

What would be a good beginners book that gets more into technique and
less on the history of the lathe?

What are good woods for a beginner to play with?

I have some oak cutoffs which went well. Some redwood which was soft but
ok. Tried some Doug fir and even during roughing, it split along the
grain lines. Also have maple, walnut & mahogany. Is there a place where I
can get an idea which types of wood turn best and recommended speeds?

Other questions - is there a guideline as to how fast you can spin a
certain size piece? What about if it's faceplate vs. spindle?

Lot's of basic questions. Been watching a lot of YouTube vids and they
are helpful.

Don't mind reading but don't have time to get to 'meetings' so any good
book recommendations will be helpful.

Sorry for the total newb questions but have to start somewhere.

Mainly plan on making cups and boxes and various knobs - might try a bowl
at some point - not much interested in pens.

Thanx,

Vic



--
There are 10 kinds of people - those who understand binary and those who
don't

In ,
Artemus typed:
"Vic Baron" wrote in message
...
As I start to get back into turning, I find that I have
more basic questions than I can find answers for. Bought
a few books but frankly, they just describe the parts of
the lathe and what the basic tools do which I already
knew.

What would be a good beginners book that gets more into
technique and less on the history of the lathe?

Try Amazon.


What are good woods for a beginner to play with?

Pine


I have some oak cutoffs which went well. Some redwood
which was soft but ok. Tried some Doug fir and even
during roughing, it split along the grain lines. Also
have maple, walnut & mahogany. Is there a place where I
can get an idea which types of wood turn best and
recommended speeds?

Amazon again or a specalzed storefront.

Other questions - is there a guideline as to how fast
you can spin a certain size piece? What about if it's
faceplate vs. spindle?

DEFNITELY! Look at the specs for your lathe. It vares with the
size/type/length/hardness of lathe material and sze/type/weght/balance of th
piece you want to work on, and whether it can be spun arouns a center of
gravity wthout too much vbration. Do NOT start wth gnarly wood!
There are NO general rules of thumb, really.

Lot's of basic questions. Been watching a lot of YouTube
vids and they are helpful.

Don't mind reading but don't have time to get to
'meetings' so any good book recommendations will be
helpful.

Sorry for the total newb questions but have to start
somewhere.

Mainly plan on making cups and boxes and various knobs -
might try a bowl at some point - not much interested in
pens.

Thanx,

Vic

I'm a beginning turner too and I found this book to be
quite helpful. Turning wood with Richard Raffan

Art

On Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:30:25 -0400, dadiOH wrote:

Mainly plan on making cups and boxes and various knobs - might try a
bowl at some point - not much interested in pens.

Hard to do a box on a lathe

Well, no it isn't. See:

http://www.woodturns.com/articles/pr..._box/index.htm

Now a square box - that's more difficult :-).

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

On Wed, 5 Oct 2011 10:48:54 -0700, "Vic Baron" wrote:

As I start to get back into turning, I find that I have more basic questions
than I can find answers for. Bought a few books but frankly, they just
describe the parts of the lathe and what the basic tools do which I already
knew.

What would be a good beginners book that gets more into technique and less
on the history of the lathe?

I probably have a dozen turning books, most picked up cheap at the used book
store. I think these are the two best.

http://www.amazon.com/Woodturning-Fo.../dp/1861081146

http://www.amazon.com/Turning-Wood-R...868825&sr=1-25
(get the dvd that goes with Raffan's book too. I found it a big help to read
the words and look at the pictures, then view the actual procedure. YMMV.)

Ernie Conover had a couple woodturning books that were helpful to me.

Consider DVD's also. The Raffan VHS (hey, I've had it for a while) was very
helpful. My local woodworking club's library had a set of Dennis White tapes.
This man was absolutely awesome! At the time the tapes were made he was about
as old as dirt, and had an economy of motion that was beautiful to behold. I
would love to find another set of these cheap. Amazon has some of the volumes
listed as used and Netflix says it has them on their internet service.

There are a lot of free videos on youtube. Here's a couple sites from my
non-youtube bookmarks:

http://www.aroundthewoods.com/
http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Articles.htm
http://www.woodturningonline.com/Tur...g_articles.php
http://www.harderwoods.com/gougejig.html

HTH. Reading all that should keep you out of trouble for a bit.

Regards,
Roy

Thanx to all. You've given me some good homework and some good advice. Now
to get some wood and practice!

Vic